What this costs
$1,000 to $3,500 a month, USD. Here is what changes inside that range.
Most agencies hide pricing to force a discovery call. This is the real range most of our clients sit in, what actually changes across it, and the six factors that move the number. The assessment produces a fixed quote before you commit to anything. Figures on this page are in US dollars and cover our management fee only — any ad spend you run is billed to you directly by Google or Meta, not through us.
Digital Handshake Media engagements start at $1,000 USD per month, with most clients investing between $1,000 and $3,500 USD per month, plus a $6,500/month Premium Done-For-You tier for multi-location and high-value verticals. Work is scoped as a 12-week roadmap, then continues month to month. This fee covers our management work only; if paid ads are part of your plan, that spend is billed to you directly by the ad platform (Google, Meta) and is not part of our fee. Final pricing depends on how contested your industry and service area are, the condition of your existing profile, and whether website implementation is included or specified for your own team. There is no charge for the market assessment that produces the quote.
Where most clients land
The businesses we work with typically invest between $1,000 and $3,500 USD per month in their online presence. They are comfortable at that level because of the arithmetic behind it: they are not trying to spend money on marketing, they are trying to build a predictable system that produces more visibility, more conversations, more quotes and ultimately more revenue. If one additional signed matter, install or coating job a month covers the fee, the decision stops being about cost.
What’s included at each level
Every engagement runs the same measurement and the same honesty rules. What changes is depth: how many keyword sets are scanned, whether website implementation is included or specified for your team, and how much content production the market needs to move.
Roadmap
$1,000-$1,500 / month
Single location, moderate competition, profile in reasonable condition.
- Full Google Business Profile audit and optimization
- Baseline and recurring geo-grid heat map scans
- Dashboard access and rank tracking
- NAP audit and priority citation corrections
- Monthly review with your account manager
The Territory Claim
$1,500-$3,500 / month
The core offer: the 12-week Map Pack roadmap plus exclusive rights to your industry in your service area for as long as you hold it. See territory status.
- Everything in Roadmap, at full depth
- Website audit, hierarchy and internal-link plan
- On-page, schema, citations and AI search layer
- Review Engine and Photo Drop support
- Competitor Displacement Report and AI Answer Audit
- Roadmap Guarantee: twelve of twelve executed and evidenced, or we keep working free
Premium Done-For-You
$6,500 / month
Multi-location, or verticals where one client is worth five figures: law, GLP-1 clinics, restoration. Exclusivity across adjacent markets.
- Everything in Territory Claim
- Expanded grid scanning across keyword sets
- Multi-location or multi-practitioner strategy
- Sector advertising-compliance review
- Ongoing content production
| Included | Roadmap $1,000–$1,500/mo |
Territory Claim $1,500–$3,500/mo |
Premium Done-For-You $6,500/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile audit and optimization | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Geo-grid baseline and recurring heat-map scans | Monthly | Monthly | Expanded, more keyword sets |
| Dashboard access and rank tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NAP audit and citation corrections | Priority fixes | Full | Full |
| Website audit, hierarchy and internal-link plan | – | Yes | Yes |
| On-page, schema and AI / answer-engine layer | – | Yes | Yes |
| Review Engine, Photo Drop, Competitor Displacement Report | – | Yes | Yes |
| Roadmap Guarantee (12 of 12 executed and evidenced, or we keep working free) | – | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-location strategy and sector ad-compliance review | – | – | Yes |
| Ongoing content production | As needed | As the market needs | Ongoing |
| Industry exclusivity in your service area | – | Yes, while held | Yes, across adjacent markets |
After week 12. Map Pack Hold
Once the roadmap is done, most clients move to Map Pack Hold at $500-$900 USD / month: monitoring, monthly re-scans, review responses, profile defence, and the territory retained. That continuity is where compounding coverage lives.
Website builds
Websites start at $1,500 USD
A Search-Ready Website costs $1,500 to $3,000 USD, depending on scope. Competitive niches and multi-location businesses start at $3,000 and are quoted after a free assessment. Every build includes search architecture, technical SEO, CRM lead capture and measurement. We do not sell templates or low-cost sites. You can follow a build with the local SEO roadmap above, but neither needs the other. See what moves the website price →
Billing
Every price on this site is in US dollars
Digital Handshake Media is a U.S. company, an LLC registered in Montana. We work from Surrey, BC. We bill every client in USD, in Canada and in the United States. Canadian clients may qualify for a 20% discount that covers currency-conversion fees. Eligibility is case by case, so ask Omar on the assessment call.
A separate, lighter product
Map Check-Ins: $299 / month
This is not a smaller version of the roadmap above, and it is not billed as one. It is a focused, productized tool that turns completed jobs into a mapped, dated proof layer on your website and Google Business Profile - on its own, or alongside a full Google Maps SEO engagement. Flat rate, $250 one-time setup waived for new clients, no long-term contract.
If the 12-week roadmap is more commitment than you want right now, this is a lower-commitment way to start: month to month, at $299, watching your own coverage map fill in. Why the roadmap is 12 weeks, and how to start smaller →
What moves the number
| Factor | Pushes cost down | Pushes cost up |
|---|---|---|
| Industry contest level | Niche trade, few direct competitors on the grid | Legal, dental, medical, roofing in a metro core |
| Service area size | Single town centre or neighbourhood | Whole metro, multiple municipalities |
| Profile condition | Live, claimed, reasonably complete | Suspended, duplicated, wrong category history, damaged NAP |
| Website access | We can implement directly | We specify and your team implements on their schedule |
| Review base | Steady existing flow to build on | Few reviews, stale, or unanswered backlog |
| Locations | One | Several, each needing its own grid and profile strategy |
How this compares to the alternatives
The honest comparison is not against other agencies. It is against the other things you could do with the same money.
| Option | Typical monthly | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| Doing it yourself | $0 plus your time | The highest-value items are genuinely DIY-able. Our checklist is published free for exactly this reason. The cost is a few hours a month, indefinitely |
| Shared lead marketplaces | Varies, often $1,000+ | Immediate volume, but the same lead sold to three competitors, and it stops the moment you stop paying |
| Paid search | $1,500-$10,000+ | Instant and controllable. Legal and roofing clicks are among the most expensive in local search, and nothing compounds |
| A cheap monthly SEO retainer | $300-$800 | Usually a report. At that price nobody can afford to do citation cleanup or technical work by hand |
| This | $1,000-$3,500 USD | A defined 12-week programme, measured against a dated baseline, that compounds and that you own at the end |
We are genuinely comfortable with the first row winning. A business that works the checklist and comes back in six months having done it is a better client than one who bought a retainer to avoid thinking about it. See what the work produced for a client who did engage, and how to evaluate any provider including us.
Google Partner, and ad credits on new accounts
Digital Handshake Media is a Google Partner. If paid search is part of your plan, Google currently offers advertising credits on qualifying new accounts, subject to Google’s own terms and spend thresholds. It is not our promotion and we do not control the eligibility rules, so ask on the assessment call and we will tell you whether your situation actually qualifies.
What we will not sell you
A cheaper plan that we do not believe will work. If the assessment says your market cannot be moved for what you can spend, the recommendation is to keep your money and work the published checklist yourself. That happens often enough that it is worth stating in advance.
Before you pay
What you see before you sign
You do not have to take our word for any of this. The free market assessment shows you where you appear on the map today, which named competitors hold your area, and what we would change and when. Week 1 then delivers a dated baseline geo-grid, and week 12 re-scans the same grid so the result is measured, not described. The four things to ask any agency to show you → What we refuse to do, and what is in writing →
Questions we get
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't there a fixed price list?
Because the work genuinely differs. A niche trade in Delta and a personal injury firm in downtown Vancouver need different amounts of the same activity, and quoting them identically would mean overcharging one and underserving the other. What we do publish is the floor, what is included at each level, and the fact that the assessment produces a fixed number before you commit.
Is there a contract?
The roadmap is scoped as a 12-week engagement because that is how long the work takes to evaluate honestly. After that it is month to month.
What is not included?
Paid advertising spend is the big one: if Google Ads or Meta Ads is part of your plan, you pay that spend directly to the platform at your own card or billing account, not to us, and it is never bundled into our management fee. Also not included: website hosting, review-generation software, photography, and backlink acquisition. Where a plan does not include website implementation, we supply written specifications for your web team rather than charging you to wait on us.
Do you do one-off projects?
Occasionally: a profile rebuild, a citation cleanup, or a technical audit as a standalone piece. It is not the core model, because a one-off cannot be measured against a baseline the way the roadmap can, but if that is genuinely what you need we will say so.
How much should local SEO cost in Canada?
Honest local SEO for a service business in Canada usually starts around $1,000 a month and runs into the low thousands. The price depends on how competitive your market is and how much website and content work is included. Our own plans are quoted in USD and start at $1,000 a month. Canadian clients may qualify for a 20% discount that covers currency-conversion fees. Prices well below $1,000 usually mean thin work or automated citation spam. A guaranteed-ranking offer at any price is a red flag, because Google says no one can pay for position.
What currency do you bill in, and do Canadian clients get a discount?
We bill in US dollars. Digital Handshake Media is a U.S. company, an LLC registered in Montana, and we work from Surrey, BC. Canadian clients may qualify for a 20% discount that covers currency-conversion fees. Eligibility is case by case, so ask Omar on the assessment call.
How much does a website cost?
A Search-Ready Website costs $1,500 to $3,000 USD, depending on scope. Competitive niches and multi-location businesses start at $3,000 and are quoted after a free assessment. We do not sell a template or a low-cost website.
What will I see before I commit?
The free market assessment, before any charge: where you appear on the map today across your service area, the named competitors holding it, and what we would change and when. After you start, week 1 delivers a dated baseline geo-grid and week 12 re-scans the same grid beside it. We do not guarantee a ranking, because Google states no one can pay for position.
Next step
Get a fixed number for your market
The assessment produces a quote and an honest read on what is achievable. Free, roughly 30 minutes.
Or call 778-200-8644 · One client per industry, per area. No guaranteed rankings.